River Blue
by crazyguitarlady
Summary: Mysteries just keep finding the Virals! Things get interesting after the pack meets River.  Rated T because I'm not exactly sure what's in for later on.
1. Chapter 1

I stared out my window. Where WAS he? He promised he would come to visit soon. I knew he was planning on coming that day.

It must be something with Tory. I knew he liked her. He told me so, telepathically. I also know he hasn't told his friends about me. He didn't exactly tell me that part. I just kind of guessed. I think he feels guilty because we're so close and two of his friends don't know I exist. That's okay though. I understand why. 

We have this telepathic connection I can't really explain. We can do that because we're twins. We've had it since we were born. When we were little, we had to kind of whisper in gibberish. As we got older, it got easier and we could just think to each other. We can't read each other's minds completely, only what we decide to share with each other, and basic feelings, emotions and stuff. 

I reached out with my mind, looking for Ben. He was on his boat, Sewee. It was somewhere between Morris Island and Loggerhead Island. Tory was saying something. What? I reached further out. He let me in. 

"I'm glad that I'm not under house confinement anymore!" Tory said. 

"Yeah me too." Said Hi. 

"At least we aren't done for the summer." Shelton _. "If we hadn't solved Katherine Heaton's murder, I doubt we would be out until school started again. Heck, we could be in jail." 

Ben snickered. He had gotten very quiet around his friends since Tory moved to town months ago. He got quiet because he didn't want to sound weird around her. He still talked to me and Shelton a lot though. 

_Long time no see. _I thought to Ben. 

_I know! I know! I promised. Don't kill me. I got tied up._ He responded. 

_Yeah….sure. I know what you're up to you know._ If I had been there in person, I would have grinned. Ben got the point though. 

_What is THAT supposed to mean?_ He asked. I knew he knew. No point denying. Tory. 

_Tory. DUH._ I laughed. Out loud. If anyone had been in the room they would have thought I was crazy. 

Ben sighed. Not out loud, but I knew. _Fine. I'll prove you wrong. I'm coming right now. Pack in tow._ He said 'pack' because he and the others had been infected with a strain of Parvovirus that gave them wolf DNA. They had super senses when they flared. They flared when they were stressed or scared or stuff like that. 

He turned the boat around. 

"Ben? Where are we going?" Shelton asked. 

"To Mount Pleasant. She's driving me crazy. I can't stand it anymore." Ben replied. _Oh thanks_, I thought. He ignored me. He was just moody. 

"Who is?" Tory asked. 

"You'll know soon enough." He vaguely answered. 

I knew when he pulled into the marina, and when he walked up to the house. I stayed in my room even though I knew he just walked in the door downstairs. He asked me why. _Introduce them to Mom first_, I told him. _She'll call me down_. 

"Mom?" Ben called. Mom walked into the room. 

"Ben! I didn't know you were coming today!" She hugged him. "And who is this?" She asked. 

"You know Shelton. This is Hi, and Tory." 

"It's nice to meet you! I'm Myra, Ben's mother." She paused. "River's upstairs." I could 'see' the confused look on Tory's face. Who is River? 

Ben climbed up the stairs, pack following. He knocked on my door. _Come in, Ben. You don't have to knock._

"Well I was just being safe." He said as he walked in. 

"Huh?" Shelton, Hi, and Tory all said in unison. 

"Nothing." Ben shrugged their question off. 

Tory and Hi studied me. Tory more so. No matter what Ben thought, I think she liked him back a bit. Or a lot. I didn't know her well enough to tell yet. 

"I'm River." I said. 

"I'm Tory." She said. I could still see the questions running through her head. 

It was Hi who asked what they both wanted to know. "So…. You're Ben's sister?" 

"Unfortunately, yes." Ben answered for me. _JUST KIDDING!_ He yelled to me defensively. 

_I know!_ I yelled back. "He's just kidding. And yes, I am his sister." 

"Older or younger?" Tory asked now. 

"Younger." Ben said. 

"By about… 10 minutes. We're twins." I added. _Ben, Ben. So quick to dismiss me in front of Tory._

_Yeah, but… she might not like it that I never told her._  
><em>Oops. Maybe you should have thought of that before you came here today.<em> 

"Oh…" Was Tory's reply. I was surprised she didn't press on the subject, especially after what Ben had told me about her. Maybe she hadn't told everyone everything about her either and didn't want to be hypocritical. 

"Hey River." Shelton finally spoke up. 

"Hey." I said. 

"You know her?" Hi asked. 

"Yeah I've met River before. Before Tory moved here. I haven't seen her in ages though." They were whispering, I could barely hear them. Ben was standing closer. If he wasn't, I probably wouldn't know what they were saying. I decided to divert the conversation. 

"So you guys wanna do something? Go somewhere? Hang out?" 

"That would be cool." Tory grinned. Interesting. I wasn't expecting that answer from her. I decided to find out why. 

"Where you wanna go?" Hi asked. 

"Back to the beach?" Shelton asked. "That's where we were headed, remember?" 

"I haven't been to the beach in ages!" I said. "I vote beach." 

"Beach." Hi agreed. 

"Okay." Tory. 

_Umm… you do have a pool. The marina's a half hour away from here. Ben _._

_Yeah but I haven't been to the actual beach in ages! Plus you were gonna practice your flares and I don't think chlorine and flares would mix well. _I replied. 

_Yeah but they don't know you know about the flares. _Ben. 

_True. Let me grab my stuff._ I thought. 

"Meet you downstairs." Ben replied. They all went downstairs. 

I grabbed my beach bag and changed into my swimsuit, a black 'tankini' with blue patterns which my mom's friend came home with one day. I didn't like it. It showed a few inches of skin. So not me. Cutoff jeans and a black tee shirt went over it. I went downstairs. 

"Ready?" I asked, as I walked out the door. I didn't give time for any response. I started walking, everyone on my heels. It's about a 30 minute walk to the water. 


	2. Chapter 2

I climbed in the boat, and after putting my bag down, helped Ben with the lines. He was telling me what to do. I glanced towards the controls. Maybe later he would let me drive or something.  
><em>NEVER!<em> He thought to me. He was starting to give in to himself about it. "Maybe later I will," he was thinking. 

He started out towards the islands. Just then Tory said; "Ben wait! Cooper is at the bunker!" 

"Oh well you can't forget that adorable furball!" I grinned. 

"How do you know about Cooper?" Tory asked defensively. She didn't know that I knew that they were Virals. 

"Ben told me." I said. Ben looked kind of nervous. It was Shelton who jumped in. 

"Ben tells River everything." He said nonchalantly. Tory just nodded, and looked out towards the horizon. 

Ben maneuvered to the edge of the beach, and Tory jumped out and called, "Cooper!" as she walked to shore. 

A few moments later, crashing sounds came from the brush. A gray nose materialized, and a flopping tongue. Wild eyes completed the face. The rest of the body followed, and jumped on Tory giving her a slobbery wet kiss. 

"Yes, I know Cooper. You're happy to see me. We're going to Loggerhead today." She started walking back to the boat, motioning to the puppy to follow. He jumped into the water with a splash and paddled out. The boys pulled him and Tory back in. 

Ben started up the motor and started towards the secluded island. It wasn't that far away from Morris. The haze of green on the horizon morphed into an island, with a beach. 

_That's Dead Cat Beach._ Ben told me. _Turtle beach is on the other side of the island._

_Okay. I can't wait. _I really couldn't. The anticipation was eating away at me. I was half tempted to yell, "ARE WE THERE YET?" just to be funny. Hi beat me to it. 

"Hey look!" he yelled! "Atlantis!" 

"Troops, prepare to deploy!" Shelton yelled. He got to the edge of the boat, ready to jump off. Hi stood behind him. As soon as Ben stopped the boat, Shelton and Hi jumped off, yelling like crazy charging for the shoreline. Cooper jumped off after them and yapped like mad. Tory laughed and chased her dog. I swam inshore right after her. They were right, the beach was beautiful. 

Ben snuck up behind me and asked, "So, what do you think?" 

"Beats a pool any day!" I picked up a handful of sand and threw it at him. That turned into a giant sand fight involving everyone there. Even Cooper tried to participate. Eventually I just laid on the warm sand and closed my eyes. 

"We're going in the water!" Hi yelled. "There's something we gotta try." 

_He means flaring underwater._ Ben told me. 

Tory said, "Ok, sounds good!" After they were in the water, she turned to me. "I'll probably go in later. I don't really want to wear my swimsuit right now." 

"Oh, why?" I asked. To me, there's nothing comparable to being in the water. Must be my name. 

"I really hate my swimsuit." She paused; "My dad's girlfriend threw out my old one and gave me a bunch of bikinis. I hate them. I don't really want to wear a bikini. Especially around…" She stopped talking and started playing with a twig on the beach. 

"Around…. Ben?" I guessed. The twig snapped in her hands, she looked at me out of the corner of her eye. Suddenly, she turned to face me. 

"Why? Why do you want to know? Why'd you guess him?" She got all defensive. 

"I don't know." I said. I did know; I was trying to see if she liked Ben back. Score one, River. "So, what else did your dad's girlfriend do?" 

Tory made this face, and then said, "She's trying to turn me into a girly girl. She keeps telling me about clothes and shoes she saw at a store and how I should wear dresses instead of tee shirts and wear makeup and cut my hair. And, she signed me up for debutante events without even asking me! She got me a pink dress! I looked like a cupcake! She hates it that my only three friends are boys too." She stopped, and then looked at me analytically. 

I knew what she was thinking. If I hung out, her dad's girlfriend wouldn't bug her as much.

Hopefully. That's when she said, "I think we should hang out more. Not just because of Whitney. That's her name. You're pretty cool." 

"Wait, _Whitney_? Not Whitney Dubois?" Oh man. If it was her, I would completely understand

Tory's problem. Except that Tory had to deal with her even more than I did. 

"Yeah. You know her?" Tory's face spoke volumes. We agreed on the subject- avoid Whitney Dubois' reach at all costs.

"She's one of my mom's friends. Same deal as you- trying to transform me into a fembot like her. I'll help you out as much as I can, Tory. Anything at all if it helps you escape her grasp." I meant every word.

I looked towards the forest. "I'll be right back." I said, running off into the woods. I just wanted to take a look in there. I love exploring. Plus, I thought I saw something moving. I knew it wasn't Cooper; he'd happily fallen asleep next to Tory.

Crashing through the brush, I landed on my feet surrounded by trees. The beach was still visible. I turned back to the forest, closely inspecting my surroundings. I wasn't sure what I had seen; it looked kind of like a shadow moving. It must have been a monkey. Ben said there were monkeys on the Island, right? I heard someone's voice on the beach. _They must be out_, I thought to myself. I ran out to the beach, and straight into trouble. 


	3. Chapter 3

"-Flaring underwater-" Shelton stopped talking in the middle of his sentence. I had just heard the word they didn't want me to hear, 'flare.' All eyes turned onto me. Even Cooper.

Three horrified faces were glued to me, and two other faces with unreadable expressions.  
>"I-I meant, <em>scaring<em> underwater." Shelton stuttered, nervously laughing.

_What should I say?_ I thought.

_Well, you had to find out eventually. Just leave me out of it._ Ben advised.

"No….. You said _flaring_." I insisted. None of us said a word. It was a stare-off. 30 seconds. One minute. Two minutes.

Suddenly, Hi said, "Oh no, not now!" under his breath and turned around quick. I saw an opportunity. I ran in front of him, to be met with golden irises. I acted surprised, and backed up a few steps. Shelton smacked his face with his hand, in a true 'facepalm moment.' Tory bit her lip and looked down, debating a course of action. Ben just stood still. Cooper whined.

"Ok…. What's with the yellow eyes?" I asked.

Tory sighed, and said, "There's something that happened a while back." We all stared. "It started out as a normal day, not too far from here. We took a different path than normal and came to a clearing. A monkey threw a dog tag at me. Me being me, I had to decipher it. The next morning, we broke into the LIRI complex to use a machine that cleaned the tag enough to read it. Ben heard barking coming from somewhere, so we took a look. Cooper was in a quarantine room, and on a chart said 'Parvovirus XPB-19.' Canine parvovirus doesn't affect humans, so we broke Coop out of there and brought him to a bunker on Morris Island. He got better, we got worse. It started with blackouts. Headaches, nausea, fatigue. Then came heightened senses. We can even talk to each other in our heads. Once I heard a fly from across the kitchen. I could see it like I was looking through a magnifier on steroids. We call them 'flares'. They happen at times of stress. It came in really helpful with solving the murder. Eventually, we found out that the strain of Parvovirus Coop had was a hybrid strain of canine and human Parvovirus mixed together. When we were infected, wolf DNA became part of our genetic makeup. We're Virals." Dead silence.

"Whaaaaat?" I feigned disbelief. To make it more believable, I looked from Tory to Hi, to Cooper, back to Hi whose eyes were still glowing, and to Ben and Shelton, pretending to take it in. "So… you all have superpowers?"

"Uh… I guess you could put it that way." Ben finally spoke. I was starting to wonder if he had lost his voice or something.

"That is so awesome!" I exploded in a bout of fake excitement. This wasn't really new news, but I hadn't actually been able to see it myself.

"I was so not expecting that reaction." Shelton _.

"So…. I tell you that we have wolf DNA in us and you think it's cool?" Tory was… amused, you could say.

"Uh… yeah." I said in a whisper.

"Nice." Ben snickered.

"Anyway… as I was saying, we tried flaring underwater. It was so cool." Shelton continued. One kick sent us rocketing through the water. And we could hold our breath for a long time. Not to mention we could see clear to the ocean floor!"

"I have got to try that." Tory said. She stopped short for a minute, no doubt arguing with herself over the bikini dilemma. Her curiosity won out. She said something to Cooper then walked into the water. Cooper swam out and jumped into the boat. I followed everyone into the water.  
>"You're coming?" Tory _.<p>

"Even if I can't flare like you guys I can still swim pretty good. I'll just stay over by the boat probably."

"Okay." She said. She closed her eyes. When she opened them, they burned yellow. Ben flared next. Hi already was, and Shelton did last. They were off before I could say a word.  
><em>Is it cool?<em> I asked Ben.

_Really cool._ He said. Vague.

_Hey Tory, look down._ I heard Shelton say.

_Okay._ Tory replied. Whaat? How could I hear them in my head? I thought for a sec, and then came to a conclusion. They could talk in their heads while flaring. Me and Ben talk in our heads all the time. It must be Ben. I tried sending a message.

_Can you hear me?_ I _.

_Whoa. Where did that come from? River? _Tory was confused. Understandable.

_Yeah it's me._ I said.

_Okay... how?_ _ _.

_Since me and River are twins, we have the ability to talk in our heads. I think that since I'm flaring right now, I'm acting as a sort of transmitter._ Ben jumped in.

_Wait… you can talk to each other in your heads? Like we do as Virals? _Shelton asked.

_Yeah but without the flare._ I said.

Can you read each other's minds? Hi blurted.

_No, I only know what River chooses to tell me._ Ben said.

_Yeah, so if Ben lets me in his head I can see what's there or what he's doing or feeling and stuff. _I added.

_Cool._ The three of them said at the same time.

_I'm gonna head back. I think my flare is gonna die._ Hi said.

_Ditto._ Tory.

_Me too._ Shelton.

_I guess we're done for today._ Ben concluded. I looked to the horizon, four heads bobbed above the water one by one. In the same matter, four people hauled themselves onboard _Sewee_.  
>"Oh, our clothes are on the beach." I suddenly realized. "I'll grab them." I dived off the deck into the water, swimming inshore. Four shirts and two pairs of shorts. Grabbing them, I swam back. I threw them on the boat before I climbed in.<p>

_Can I drive now?_ I asked.

_Yeah._ Ben said.

_Really?_ I didn't quite believe him.

_Yeah. In your DREAMS!_ Yep. Joking.

"Hey River, give me your email and cell number." Tory said, handing me her iPhone. I handed her mine. I typed my information into her contacts list. She did the same for me.

After I handed the phone back, Hi and Shelton looked at each other. No doubt scheming. Then they simultaneously handed me their iPhones too. I laughed and typed my info again. Tory handed Shelton my phone, who then passed it on to Hi. Then I got it back.

Cooper whined at the mysterious passing of electronic devices. "Sorry boy. You don't have a cell phone or email." I told him, ruffling his fur.

"Download iFollow." Tory instructed. I did. "Join the group 'bunker.'"

"'Bunker'? Why not 'Virals?'"

She looked at the others. They shrugged. She did something on her phone. "Join the group 'Virals.'" She said, grinning.

I laughed, "I just did." 


	4. Chapter 4

Ben dropped off the gang at Morris Island before bringing me back to Mount Pleasant.  
>"Ben?"<p>

"Yeah?"

"Will you talk to Dad? I want to move to the island house. I actually know people I'm not afraid to call my friends for a change. I'm going to talk to Mom when I get home." 

He thought for a minute. "I'll talk to Dad. He'll probably call Mom. That way you don't have to worry about it." 

"Thanks." 

Ben dropped me off at the dock. It's only a mile walk from there to the house. When I walked in the front door, I floated a message. _Made it home. No axe murderers today._ I walked upstairs and logged on to my computer, entering three new contacts into my Gmail account. I sent a chat invite to all three. 

**Tory:** Hey what's up?  
><strong>Me:<strong> Made it home. Tired.  
><strong>Tory:<strong> I know the feeling. Just so you know we use iFollow to chat sometimes too. If you don't see us online here, we might be there.  
><strong>Me:<strong> Good to know. I'll remember that.

**Tory:** AH I got to go the blonde monster has arrived for dinner. Later.

**Me:** Later. Try to make it out in one piece lol.

The phone rang. I closed my laptop and stood by the door listening. Mom answered. It was Dad,

I assumed. Better double check. 

_Did dad just call? _I asked. 

_Yeah I talked to him. He's talking to Mom right now. _Ben answered. 

_How'd it go? _I was hoping for the best, preparing for the worst. 

_Good. He said as long as Mom agrees he's cool with it. _Sigh of relief. 

_YAY!_

_Yeah well just remember it's up to Mom. You know her. They just hung up so get downstairs._

As if on cue, mom yelled, "River! Come down here!" I ran down the stairs. 

"Yeah?" 

"I just got off the phone with your father. He said that you want to move in with him and Ben?" She looked hurt. I felt bad. 

I took a deep breath. "You know that Ben came today, and his friends. We went to the beach. It was great. I haven't had that much fun in a long time. They're good friends now. I don't really have any friends here. You know I love you. But I'm in the house all the time and have nobody to talk to really. I just feel like I would fit in better on Morris Island." 

She thought for a moment, and then said, "I understand that. You need socialization from people your own age. Better get packing." She smiled. I smiled and hugged her. 

"Thanks mom!" I yelled as I ran up the stairs. 

_She. Said._ I started. 

_Yes? _Ben finished for me. 

_YEAH!_

_Good thing I'm clearing out the bonus room. Although, I must say, I'm not looking forward to moving the pool table. Maybe I should just throw it off the top floor._

_Well if you do, wait until I can see it! I don't want to miss an element of destruction. _My face turned into a smirk. I got serious. _I get the bonus room? Really?_

_It was that or the garage. I'm starting to think the garage would have been a better idea._

_I'll make it up to you. Besides, you'll probably end up invading in some way anyway._

_True. Get packing._

I started packing my entire room into boxes. Because I didn't have many friends, I spent a lot of time left to my own devices. That meant I needed plenty to do. Thankfully I like to keep things organized pretty well. One box was for all the craft supplies. Another was for books. Another for breakable items to be wrapped in newspaper. The biggest problem would be the closet- the clothes on hangars. The bonus room on the Island didn't have a closet. 

_Leave that to me._ Ben said. _I'll make up something. By the way, there's an old bed up here. I am NOT moving it so you now have a new bed._

_Thanks._ I smiled. _My bed has lockbolts on it anyway._ I took down the posters, carefully placing each thumb tack into a plastic box. 

I glanced at the clock. Eleven at night? Wow. I brushed my teeth, got into a pair of shorts and a tank top, and went to sleep. 


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning I woke up when I rolled off my bed. _AAH! I'm UP!_ I thought to myself. Breakfast. Then a shower. Then a walk? Sounded like a plan. Or maybe walk first, shower after. Either way, breakfast came first. 

Time for a pantry raid. Peanut butter, bread crumbs, spice rack, crackers, cereal. Not really in the mood for cereal. Refrigerator? Apples, eggs, milk, butter, maple syrup. Hmmm…. Maybe a batch of pancakes. 

I took out the flour, sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla. I mixed all the ingredients and scooped batter into the pan. 

The first one always takes a long time to heat up, and it never browns quite right. Then they always seem to burn. I kept a close eye on my cooking to make sure I didn't create another kitchen disaster. 

Pancakes and granola. Two of the only foods I find hard to make. Weird. 

Only one came out black. That was an improvement. Maple syrup. Plate. Fork. Utter deliciousness. I'm allowed to stroke my own ego once in a while, right? 

After making sure my brain was functioning properly, I pulled on some clothes suitable for running in the Charleston heat, and laced on sneakers. After grabbing a water bottle and telling my mom where I was headed, I ventured out into the world. I took my normal route. Down to McCants Drive, I would walk the whole way to Charleston harbor and back. That would kill about an hour. 

I was about to the Ocean Grove Cemetery when a blond haired boy ran up alongside me. 

"Run here often?" He asked. 

"Sometimes. How about you?" I responded. 

"Once in a while." 

"I live up in Cassidy Court. I run all the way down to the harbor and back." 

"That's quite a hike!" He said. "I Live on King Street. The name's Jason Taylor." Little alarm bells went off in my head. Jason Taylor. I think that's the name of the guy Ben's always complaining about. Better make sure. 

"River." I said. _Ben, the guy at your school, his name's Jason Taylor, right?_

"Cool name." Jason said. He kept pace with me well. He must be the guy. Ben said he was on the lacrosse team I think.  
><em>Yeah, why?<em> 

"Thanks." I laughed. _A dude named Jason Taylor just ran up alongside me. He's talking with me. I thought he was the guy. Here-_ I sent a mental picture to Ben. 

_Yeah. That's Him. What's he doing with you?_ Ben seemed really irritated. 

_Not a clue. I'm going to tell him my last name._ Keeping Ben in link, I turned to Jason. "River Blue." I said. 

"What?" 

"My name's River Blue." 

"Ah." A pause. "Any relation to a guy named Ben Blue?" AHA! It _was_ the same Jason. 

"You go to Bolton Prep? Ben is my brother." 

"I didn't know Ben had a sister." Cold as ice. I detected something else too. Almost like the look I get when I'm scheming one of my master plans. 

"Twins. I live in Mount Pleasant, he lives on Morris." Quickly, I added, "I'm moving out to Morris though." 

"Shame. You seem really nice." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. I tried to keep the mood light, but inside I was nervous. If half the things Ben said were true… well let's just say it might not end well. 

"Well you seem like a nice girl. Someone I would probably hang with." 

_I'mma punch him._ Ben snapped. 

_I can handle this!_ I said. 

"Ben and I are pretty close. Yesterday I hung out with him and his friends, Hi, Shelton, and Tory." 

On hearing Tory's name Jason snapped his attention to me. His look, it was almost like he was saying, 'What? Tory's hanging with the boat kids instead of me?' All he said was, "Cool." 

"So, you're on the lacrosse team?" I changed the subject. 

"Yeah. I'm captain of the team, after what happened to Chance." 

"It must be rough; I understand you were good friends." 

"Yeah." He got kind of quiet. "What about you?" 

"Well, I'm moving to Morris. I feel like I have friends for the first time ever. I play guitar, draw, write." Looking up at him, I smiled and said, "Jog." 

He laughed at my joke attempt. "Sounds interesting. Do you have your phone?" Defenses rose up fast. 

"Yeah, why?" 

"Let me see." I handed him my phone. There was no comeback I could think of to get out of this. He typed in his contacts. After that he took out his phone and typed my number into his. "I'll text you later." He smiled. "This is my turnoff. Later?" 

"Uh... okay." I was totally unprepared. _Ben?_

_I'm going to kill Jason. _Ben muttered. 

_Don't worry. I'm moving to Morris, remember? You can play defense all you like after that. _Ben just grumbled. 


	6. Chapter 6

I finally got back to the house. I cut my run short after running into Jason. I walked up to my room and put my swimsuit back on. 

My room is right above the pool. The house is the type that you can sit on the roof if you climb out the window. Today, however, I was jumping from the roof into the pool. I jumped.

Cannonball! Splash! The cool water felt refreshing after running. I surfaced and shook water. About ten minutes later, I got out. Shower. As good as the pool is, it doesn't contain soap. Only chlorine. Shampoo. Body wash. Towel. Clean clothes. My phone started screeching at me. My ringtone was "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" By Jet. I grabbed the phone. There was a text from Jason. 

**Jason:** What are you doing tonight?  
><strong>Me:<strong> Packing. Moving soon. TONS I have to do!  
><strong>Jason:<strong> Shame. Later. 

What's his deal? 

_He can't have Tory so he's trying to get you instead. I told you he had it out for me. _Was it possible for Ben to sound this ticked off? Apparently so. 

_Well think of the bright side. If he's resorting to this you must be winning._ No response. _I blew him off by saying I had to pack my stuff._

_The bonus room is almost cleared out. Pool table's still there. It's going to be thrown off the roof. _

_Dad said I could. Shelton wants to film it for 'analytical purposes.' His dad is letting him use a high speed camera._

_Wow that sounds so typical. Hahahaha. I can't wait._

_Neither can Hi and Shelton. Tory thinks it's more trouble than it's worth due to cleaning it up afterwards._

_Ok, well just remember this was your idea._

_Yeah, and you said 'wait until I can see it'._

_True. _The doorbell rang. Mom answered it. I recognized the voice. The Infamous Whitney. Greaaat. 

I ran downstairs. Straight into a nightmare. 

"River! Your mother told me that you're moving to Morris Island! I'm going to miss seeing you here but wouldn't you know I'm dating Tory's father! I'll still be able to see you to give you more advice on your fashion situation. You and Tory can hang out together too! I worry so much that her only friends are boys. But now she can spend time with you instead!" Huh? My fashion 'situation'? And there was no way Tory was going to replace her friends. This woman's insane. 

"Um… cool. Tory's nice." 

"She could be so beautiful if she just put a little effort into herself! She's very set in her opinions. I think I'm starting to get to her though. Anyway, I heard you were moving. I came over so I could help you set up the perfect room! Come on, we're going to the Island to see your room then shopping! It's going to be just wonderful!" 

_Ben, look out. Barbie is coming to the island with me in tow._

_I see that… Too bad there's no escape for you. Or maybe there is. If I head out to the bunker and lock the door you can't get in._

_That won't work. I have a key, remember?_

_Not if you 'forget' it. _

_Hmm… now there's an idea!_ I ever so carefully took the key off the ring and 'dropped' it into a basket. The escape plan was in action. 

"Oh I almost forgot! I bought you a new summer outfit. It's a little bit more your style than some of the other things I have mentioned." Whitney held up this horrifying outfit- really short cutoff jeans, a white halter top, 'wedge' heels and a rhinestone necklace. I reminded myself that it wasn't as bad as a pink cupcake dress. 

"Why don't you go put it on? Then we can go." I begrudgingly complied. During the thirty minute drive, I don't think I talked. At all. Or even smiled. All the while Whitney kept ranting about all the things she was planning to do to me and Tory. All her torture methods. Sanity snatchers. You get the idea.

Whitney pulled into the complex. She got out, and I followed. I walked to the house. She knocked. No answer. She tried the knob. Locked. Then, to my horror, she lifted the floor mat and found a key.

_Nice job Ben. You forgot to take the key. _

_What key?_

_The one under the floormat._

_There's a key there?_

_Yeah. You might as well come back. The plan failed. It's okay. Don't worry about it._

Four flights of stairs in heels. I would have vowed to never wear high heels of my own free will, but I already had. Whitney walked into the bonus room ahead of me and stopped. She looked around, no doubt planning how to take over my life. Or at least my room anyway. No, more like my life. The pool table was near the deck door, and the bed in a corner. Also a bunch of scattered tools and hardware to one side. Some boxes were next to the stairs.

"First we need to clear out everything from the room." Whitney matter-of-factly stated.

"Ben started that last night. The bed is staying here. The boxes go in the garage. The tools are for something. And the pool table is getting thrown off the roof for 'analytical purposes.'"

"Thrown off the roof? That's insane! You can't do that!" Whitney's look said everything. I was crazy.

"Dad said we could."

"Um… alright then. The rest can be moved. She picked up a box and started back down the stairs. She disappeared out of sight. I threw my shoes to the far corner then picked up a box myself. Once I had put the box where all the rest of the boxes were, I started walking towards the stairs again. The door opened behind me.

"Hey you." I turned. There stood my brother.

"Hey. You got back fast." I noted.

"Well I didn't go to the bunker. I just went to the beach."

"Aha. That explains it." Ben started looking at me like something was out of place.

"What's with the Taylor Swift getup?" he asked. The outfit. DUH.

"Whitney made me wear it."

"You know what's weird? Tory has to deal with Whitney, you have to deal with Whitney, and I've never met her."

"That will change in about… 5 seconds." I heard her footsteps coming down the stairs again. She walked into the room, saw Ben, and stopped.

"Hi." She said.

"No, this is Ben. Not Hi." Hopefully she got the point.

"Oh, Ben! I should've known that!" With that, she put the box down and headed back up the stairs.

"Wow. I have a whole new level of sympathy for you now."

"It gets worse." We headed up the stairs.

About half an hour later all the boxes were in the garage. In place of those, there were hordes of cleaning supplies everywhere. Including the vacuum. Another hour, and the place was practically spotless. Satisfied with her work, Whitney started lecturing about paint colors and ideas I might like. Most were very girly. I was able to talk her into a blue and monochromatic color scheme. I'm into cool colors. She wanted yellows, pinks, and other warm colors. No thanks.

"I think we can go get the paint now!" She practically dragged me out. Twenty minutes brought us to Lowe's. Green paint, black paint, and white.

My phone started yelling at me again. Tory this time.

**Tory:** What's up? Wanna hang at the bunker?  
><strong>Me:<strong> Wish I could, but I'm stuck in a Barbie room makeover. Currently driving from Lowe's. Oh yeah, I'm moving to Morris Island. There'll be plenty of time to hang out hehe.  
><strong>Tory:<strong> Nice! Hey instead of going to the bunker maybe we can chill out at your house then. Help paint. :P  
><strong>Me:<strong> If you don't mind risking certain death from Blondie here.  
><strong>Tory:<strong> Livable. Be there soon.


	7. Chapter 7

When we got back, the gang was assembled. Outside the house.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Waiting for you to get here so we can demolish a pool table!" Hi filled me in on what had been going on. Shelton was setting up the high speed camera. Tory was standing near us. Ben was on the roof deck, next to the pool table. Whitney was watching in horror. I guessed she had plans to intervene on our little demolition plan.

"The camera's all set." Shelton said.

_All systems go._ I told Ben.

_Ok, just tell me when. _

"Just give the word." I said.

"Ok, in 5…4…3…" Shelton started. I relayed the info. Down went the pool table. CRASH! Splinters and other debris went flying everywhere. The guys were smiling like idiots.

Whitney's face went even more horrified. Her hand was over her mouth, her eyes wide. Then, the last thing I ever would expect. She started giggling. Hold on, she thought that was funny? Ok, who is this and where is Whitney?

"I thought that was going to flatten one of you." She said. Aha. Laughs of relief. Not of amusement. Still Whitney.

"Ok, well thankfully the dumpster isn't far away." Ben noted. "I'll be in the house."

"Don't even think about it Blue." Shelton _. Ben stopped in his tracks.

"I was kidding! You should know that."

Hi grabbed a table leg and swung it around like a lightsaber. "Use the force. Then it will be cleaned in no time."

Yeah. Too bad. Its times like this I almost with I had telekinesis instead of telepathy. Oh well. I grabbed a small piece of debris and hurled it towards the dumpster. Yes! Score! It went in. This was going to take a while.

But not as long as I thought. After the table was in the dumpster, my room got painted. Green. The ceiling was white, and there were black and white leaf accents I painted on the wall. The bed Ben found was a metal frame, white, which matched the theme. Whitney brought over my bookcase and desk in Mom's truck. The bookcase was black, and my desk was white with color splatters all over it. It was already like that. The hardest thing was getting my dresser. I took the drawers out. And the mirror comes off too.

Four flights. One dresser. SUICIDE! By the time it was up I literally just collapsed on the floor. Staring at the ceiling can be surprisingly entertaining.

I got an idea. "Who likes lemonade?" I ran down to the kitchen. The thought of icy lemonade can be surprisingly effective at getting someone to move. Lemons, sugar, ice, blender. Four happy people. Two not-so-happy people with brainfreeze.

I went with Whitney to get the boxes next. I only went because I wanted to make sure I tied a tarp on snug that way nothing blew off. I'm sure she wouldn't know how to do that.

Everything fit onto the boxes. I found a tarp in the back of the truck. I used ratchet straps to hold everything in place.

Bringing boxes up was still a killer, but not as bad as the dresser.

"Anyone want to stay for dinner?" Four affirmatives. I made pizza. You basically can't go wrong with pizza, right?

An hour later, after pizza and a movie, everyone went home. I'd gotten up really early, so I went to bed.


	8. Chapter 8

"Hey Cooper!" The puppy was jumping all over me. I was at the bunker. The day was boring up until then. Got up, had breakfast, unpacked some stuff. Got a text from the gang saying they were going to try the flaring underwater again at the beach and to meet at the bunker. Followed Ben because I didn't know how to get to the bunker from the complex. There. Up to speed.

"I think Cooper has ADHD or something. He's crazy!" Hi said, trying to get the puppy to sit still. Wasn't working well. I did this little trick I know that makes dogs sit. I had Cooper's full attention.

"Good boy." I said, giving him an ear scratch. Hi just stared like I was evil. My phone told me I had a text. Strange, considering I was already with the gang.

**Jason:** You want to hang out today?  
><strong>Me:<strong> Sorry, I already have plans :( Going to the beach with the gang. Maybe another time.  
><strong>Jason:<strong> And packing, right? You still moving?  
><strong>Me:<strong> More like 'unpacking'. Already in the new house.

I looked up. Four faces watching me. "Just a text." I said. They seemed satisfied with that explanation. To the beach now.

As before, I guarded the boat while everyone else tried the flaring. And like before, I was in link.

_We used to have another bunker. It collapsed during the whole investigation thing. Then we found the new bunker. Right now we're closer to the old bunker. _Tory explained.

_Ah. Ok. _

_Guys. I found something._ Hi said at the exact same moment.

_What is it?_ Ben asked.

_It looks like a computer tablet. _

_You know, it is possible to dry it out and get the information off of it._ Shelton stated.

_Whoa. You're not going to like this. _

_Spill it Hi._ Tory snapped.

_There's a sticker on it. It says 'Karsten.' _

_WHAT? It belongs to Karsten? Bring it up. Shelton, you said you can get the info, right?_

_Yeah. River, is there a plastic bag anywhere up there?_ I looked around.

_Yeah, why? _

_Keep the tablet wet for now. It has to soak in distilled water once we get back home. People that do this for a living open it in a clean room environment to prevent damage. The drive is cleaned with a fast acting evaporating chemical. The only-"_

_Can you get it running or not?_ I'm guessing Tory wanted to know a yes or no answer more than a detailed description of the process.

_Probably. Depends on if the hard drive is encrypted or not. _

_Well let's get on it. There might be information about the virus._

I grabbed the plastic bag and filled it with sea water. Shelton came up beside the boat and put the tablet in the bag. The tablet was dark gray, with a lot of buttons on the side of the screen. The stylus was missing. I zipped the bag.

After everyone was on Ben headed for the Morris dock. Once Sewee was tied up everyone ran for the complex. We ended up in Shelton's garage.

"Oh no."

"What?" Tory sounded wary.

"I have to know the chemical composition of the water is in order to know what chemical to use."

"Okay, and how do you do that?"

"By using a mass spectrometer." I swear, you could have heard a pin drop.

"And where are we supposed to get one of those?" Tory practically yelled.

"You're not going to like the answer to that." Hi said.

"WHERE?"

"LIRI." That went over like a ton of bricks.

"Ok, first, what's a mass spectrometer?" Ben asked.

"It's this machine, it measures mass-to-charge ratio of charged particles. Basically, it tells you what's in the sample. It does that by ionizing the particles. Different elements behave differently and it analyzes what they do to tell you what they are. There's one at LIRI. It's used for protein sequencing." Hi lectured.

"These things cost like 5 grand." Shelton added.

"We need a plan." Was she serious? Breaking into the lab, AGAIN?

"Okay. Any ideas? Something to make sure we don't end up in juvie?" Hi.

"Too bad the new cameras are up." Ben.

"I have an idea." All eyes turned to me.


	9. Chapter 9

Sunday morning. Always nice. You get to sleep in, chill, and take it easy. Except for us. We were breaking into a high security laboratory. Where our parents worked.

Tory was drilling the plan into our heads for the twentieth time.

"So, You set up the laser, Shelton picks the locks, we make a run for the lab. Then we use the magnet to keep the alarm off while Hi uses the mass spec."

"Does anyone notice that this is surprisingly like the day we broke into the lab _last_ time? That was a Sunday too. And rainy. And we were breaking in Lab Six." Hi was still not convinced about this plan. "This time, no investigating anything. No hidden labs. No breaking wolfdogs out of contamination quarantines. No getting infected with an experimental virus that changes our DNA."

We were in the woods outside LIRI. After much debating, the master plan from the last time was altered to fit this time. We were in the woods watching the back gate. I was holding my backpack, containing within the laser and tripod that would be key to this mission.

I took it out of the bag and set it upright. Using a scope I outfitted to the laser, trying again and again to aim it with pinpoint accuracy, I found the camera I needed to take out. Aimed, and… on.

The camera was down. Time to go.

Shelton ran down to the gate, picking the lock once again. Click. Open. Mad dash to Lab Six. Click. Open. Blackness. Hi hit the light switches on the wall. There were a bunch of counters overflowing with equipment. In one corner was a glass enclosure. That's where we needed to get.

I ran over to the door, and took out my magnet. Shelton put a shallow angle half diamond between the sensors. As long as it stayed there we were safe.

I carefully took hold of the pick, staying dead still. While I was doing that, Shelton threw the lock. Click. Open. In one swift movement, I placed the magnets over the sensor while sliding the pick off. I braced; no alarm. We were in the green.

There were about nine big machines in the room. "Okay, Hi, which one?" Ben asked.

Hi walked over to one of the machines. It was pretty big. He took the water and put some in a vial. He placed the vial into a slot in a circular section of the machine. There were other vials there too. He started it up, and the circular part started spinning. Another area was humming with the job.

"This will take a little bit." About fifteen minutes later, the screen showed a bar graph with numbers over each spike.

"I'm going to print out the graph. You can analyze it at home, right?"

"Yep." Shelton. The printer spat out a sheet of paper. "Got it. Now let's scram before we get busted."

"I second that thought." I really didn't want to end up in jail or in any sort of trouble just after moving in.

"Let's go." Ben moved to the door. We all fell in behind. Shelton carefully replaced the pick over the sensor as I eased the magnets away. I closed the door. All clear.

After Lab Six was as good as we left it, it was time to make a break for the forest where the laser sat. Hopefully the rain wasn't interfering with what it needed to do.

We made it to the gate. Tory put the padlock back on. As soon as she hit tree cover, I snatched the laser and ran for the shore. All the others flew by me. I realized they were flaring so they could run faster. I couldn't flare.

All four were in the boat by the time I broke tree cover. They were waiting. I literally dove into the boat as the motor started.

"Mission accomplished." Tory grinned. Her grin was contagious. Pretty soon we were all cracking up at our own achievement.

Back in the garage, Shelton studied the chart. He finally picked the kind of chemical he needed. After taking the drive out of the distilled water, he sprayed the drive all over. It started to visibly dry before our eyes. Pretty impressive actually.

"Ok well it doesn't look damaged at all. I think it just needed to dry out. I'm going to plug it in now." He connected the hard drive to a laptop. An error warning came up. A collective groan came over the boys.

"What happened?" I asked.

"It's encrypted. There's a 25 digit passkey. Likely numbers and letters." Hi.

I opened up an app on my phone. "Here. This calculates all possible combinations for given specifics. Just type in the information."

Beep! Code accepted. We were in.

"Look up 'Parvovirus XPB-19' and see if any results come up." Tory demanded. At the worst possible moment, the computer crashed.

"NO NO NO!" Shelton pleaded to no avail. He banged his head against a shelf. "I think there wasn't enough memory for all the information. My laptop's pretty loaded."

"Why don't we take it over to my place? I can load my stuff onto some disks. There isn't that much on it. I just got a new hard drive a few weeks ago because there was a virus on my old one." I volunteered. Four agrees.

Back in my room, I booted up my laptop. Everyone else had Macs. I prefer my HP personally. A pile of empty disks got filled up. I plugged in the drive. It didn't ask for the password this time. I searched 'Parvovirus XPB-19' and came up with roughly _ results. In a nutshell, they said this:

The first one said basically that Karsten was hired to find a cure for Parvovirus by a third party. If he was unsuccessful at creating a cure, the third party wanted him to make a designer virus with a cure that the company, Candela Pharmaceuticals, would sell to millions of pet owners.

The second said that so far all attempts have failed. It listed each in description and what each accomplished. A fat lot of nothing.

The third stated that the third party was getting impatient.

The fourth said that Lab Six was shut down. Current testing is a combined hybrid virus of canine Parvovirus and Parvovirus B19. The hybrid virus has the potential to infect humans, so the subject is kept in quarantine. Subject A not responding to treatment.

Fifth, a break-in occurred at the lab and the subject went missing. Karsten destroyed the virus. Computer logs showed that the virus was incinerated and then deep freezed, as protocol demands.

Sixth, third party is informed of the current status. The deal is off. For now.

Seven, Karsten suspects four children of various LIRI workers. The children are often on the island.

"There's nothing here really. It says that Karsten destroyed the virus after Cooper went missing. Nothing here will help. I'll work through everything but it will take a long time."

The door slammed downstairs. It was Dad. He was home early. And the computer was still booted up. He was walking downstairs. I shut it down as fast as I could and shoved the drive into a drawer. I grabbed my guitar as fast as I could and started playing a song. Dad walked in.

"Hey guys, what's up?" he asked.

"Nothing. Just showing them some stuff." I lied.

"I didn't hear you playing when I walked in." He was suspicious. Uh-oh.

"She had to tune it. It got out of whack during the move." Ben defended. _Quick thinking!_

"Oh ok." Dad.

"That was close." I sighed. I pulled the drive back out. This time, I would load all the files onto my laptop so I didn't need to connect the drive. Too risky to leave it out.

"I downloaded the files. I don't think I should leave it here though. Too much going on with me moving in. Where should it be hidden?" I looked at the others, waiting for someone to come up with something.


	10. Chapter 10

The next day I started getting ready to go to the beach. Before I got outside though, Whitney found me.

"Hello River! I came over to see how you were settling in here!"

"I'm fine. It's nice here." I avoided questions.

My phone beeped.

**Jason:** There's a party at my house tonight. Want to come?

"What's that?" Whitney meant the text.

"It's just a text from someone." I tried to seem nonchalant.

"From one of your friends?" Digging deeper.

"Someone asking me if I wanted to go to a party tonight." Still avoiding names.

"Oh well that's wonderful! I can help you with your look."

"I wasn't going to go."

"What? Why?" The concept of choosing to not go to be with popular brats escaped her. She wouldn't take no for an answer. "Come on! We'll go pick an outfit! Tell your friend that you'll go." When I hesitated, she said, "Go on. Text." I texted.

**Me:** One of my mom's friends is taking over. She's doing my outfit and hair (AGAINST MY WILL!) but she told me to text you saying I'd come.  
><strong>Jason:<strong> Oh don't worry I'm sure whatever you will look like will be great ;) Eight o clock. You would have come even if she didn't insist right?

I never answered.

Whitney brought me to the mall. She marched straight to one of the last stores I wanted to go to, not taking my hints about what I wanted. What she picked was a pair of denim shorts with a blue halter top. The shoes were black heels with ribbons that tied around my ankle. She paid for the clothes.

Then she dragged me into a store with handbags. I kept saying that the shorts had pockets for my wallet and keys. I even eventually pointed out some practical-looking ones. No bite. She picked out a silver bag with a long shoulder strap. Sadly, it was too small to smuggle a change of clothes in.

Then came the moment of horror. We left the mall and she drove to a little beauty salon. It was on the corner of a block. The windows had lots of posters of manicures and hairstyles and sales going on. A bell on the door rang when it opened. The inside had a desk near to the left of the door, and a shelf with lots of products on it. A few chairs and fashion magazines were on the right side. The back wall had the other chairs and mirrored counters with styling equipment. The back right had the perm thing. The back left had the nail stuff.

A girl with blonde hair and pink highlights walked over to us. She acted like she knew Whitney. Her nametag said Da'Nae.

"Oh, who is this?" Da'Nae asked. She smiled. She looked kind of nice.

"This is River." Whitney answered.

"River Blue." I said. I like using my full name, because it just sounds cool.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Da'Nae. Whitney has told me all about you." Da'Nae stated the obvious.

"Do you think you can do a French on her? Maybe even a trim and style?" Whitney asked.

"I trim my own hair. It's fine." I said. I don't trust people that try to cut my hair. They never do what I want. This situation especially likely. They ignored me.

Da'Nae had me sit down on a chair. She looked at my hand, and then got a puzzled face. I assumed it was because the nails on my left hand are so short. "I'll see if I can do a French manicure properly, but her nails might not be long enough."

Whitney looked at my hand with a confused look. "Why are your nails like that only on one hand?"

"I play guitar. It's easier to play with short nails. That's why my fingers are callused too." I explained. Whitney took my hand and felt my fingertips.

"You should use lotion." She said that so matter-of-factly.

"Calluses are good though." They both looked at me in alarm. I continued. "Without them, it would be very painful to play guitar."

"Why do you play guitar? There are plenty more useful things to do with your time." Ouch! That was harsh. I think I visibly winced.

Da'Nae took out this basin and filled it with warm water. She dumped in some stuff and put my hands in it. She talked to Whitney while my hands soaked in it. I couldn't hear them over the chatter of the room. After my hands were done, Da'Nae started filing and trimming. My hands started to look like I gave one about them. The ends were kind of square. Da'Nae started with a clear polish. She told me it was a base coat to prevent the color from chipping. After that dried she painted the ends white. She carefully did the left hand, painting so small I was amazed she could do it. Whitney looked proud. After the white dried a translucent pink went over. Then another clear coat. If the first was a base coat, that must have been the top coat.

"Your nails are done. You want to pick a new haircut now?" Da'Nae innocently asked. I kind of liked her. More than Whitney anyway.

"I like my hair as it is." I said. I didn't want to say I don't trust people with my hair. No idea why.

"Oh alright. Can I at least style it for the party tonight?" I felt myself giving in, more, more, gone.

"Alright." I said it reluctantly. Da'Nae handed me a book. I flipped through it. No. No. No. Maybe. Definitely not. No. Possibly. No. Hmm…

I stopped on a page. The girl had black hair, a little darker than my own near-black. The bangs were pretty long, but not in her face like some people wear. They went down nearly to her shoulders. It was more layered in the front than actual bangs. The back was puffed up and half tied back. Not too fond of the puffy but it was okay otherwise.

"Can you do this but without the fluffy part?" I asked.

"Yeah. That would look really cool. Any color you want?" NO!

"No, that's okay."

Da'Nae started in on my hair. She washed it first, then blow-dried and straightened it. Usually it gets sort of messy, almost frizzy, but whatever she used made it smooth and shiny.

She carefully parted a section of hair and pulled it to the left side of my face. The rest she pulled up in a messy bun. She took the scissors. I had second thoughts, but it would have been too late. Snip, snip, snip. Clip, clip. Cut. The bangs took shape. It looked kind of nice.

Da'Nae let down the rest of my hair. She cut in a few layers. At first I was a little annoyed because I hadn't told her to, but it looked good with the bangs. Almost like that emo thing people do. She pulled the hair partly up and secured it with a clip. The clip was made of leather. It was shaped like a butterfly. A wooden stick went through the one wing, into my hair, and out the other side. I was surprised how well it stayed. Two long pieces of hair were on either side. They were wavy.

"Ok, it's finished. Do you like it?" Da'Nae looked like she was about to go, "EEE!" from both nervous anticipation and liking her own work.

"I like it." I really did. I might actually come back here. Maybe. Maybe doing hair isn't so bad. Still a maybe.

"Oh, why it's just gorgeous! It's absolutely wonderful! You will look simply adorable with your outfit!" Second thought, I still don't like this stuff.

Whitney took me to her house after that. She lives in an apartment. The décor matched her personality. That's all I will say.

She dragged a kitchen chair into the bathroom. There were a bunch of lights around the mirror, which she turned on. I sat begrudgingly while she carefully clipped up my bangs and the long pieces of hair. After convincing herself my style was safe, she took a wet washcloth and wet my face. Then a face mask went on. I sat still until it dried.

"It probably would have been better to have done the face then the hair, right?" I asked. I was just making conversation. Hopefully my intended rhetorical question wouldn't start a detailed how-to.

"Yes, but it's crazy to go out twice. I could have done the makeup first but I didn't know what outfit you would be wearing. It would have worn off some too." Wow, that actually made sense. I still hated the whole getup. Some things never change.

After my face was rinsed off and dry, Whitney started by studying me. It was almost scary. Then she picked up a bottle.

"This is a liquid concealer. It will hide dark circles." Oh no, she was starting in on her lectures again. A dab went under my eyes. She had me rub it in.

"Now some mineral concealer." She used a small brush on different points of my face. No doubt where pimples were. Then she used a larger brush across my whole face, to 'even skin tone'.

"This is mineral foundation. It's lighter than your skin tone, but it's probably close to what you would look like if you didn't get a lot of sun." Not true. My skin is pretty dark. Not as dark as Ben, but still dark. The jar Whitney was holding had to be several shades lighter. Oh well.

"Eyeliner. This one is a liquid liner. It's a lot easier for the top. Close your eyes." I did. A cold line ran over my eyelids. "Okay, open." I did. Black eyeliner. She handed me a pencil. "Use this for your bottom. I'll let you do that so I don't poke your eyes by accident." I carefully tried to put the black color where she showed me to. Didn't work well. Whitney had to use makeup remover where I messed up.

She picked up something that looked like a mix of scissors and something else. "I need you to stay very still and not blink. I'm going to curl your lashes. Which, by the way, might I say, are gorgeous. All the girls will be jealous of you." Yeah, right. She clamped the curler thing on my lashes. I stayed as still as a statue.

"Wonderful. Now mascara." She handed me a yellow tube. Of all things, I can do mascara. It's not like I even tried to do it right, but I can. "Good. Okay, you don't really need blush, so just your lips now." She pulled out a tray filled with colors. Hand hovered over the bright red lipstick, shifted to a gloss. She handed me the tube. I did my lips. Yum, cherry. I looked at the clock. Six o clock. Two hours before the party. Takes 15 minutes to walk there from Mom's. An extra 15 because of the heels. An hour and a half to kill.

"I think we're done with the makeup. You look absolutely wonderful. You should do makeup all the time. You would get so many compliments. Everyone would think you are beautiful. You are anyway, but you would be even more so with a little effort." Whitney was ranting again. She let my hair down and made a few adjustments to it after being clipped up.

"I'll take you back to your Mom's house now." I walked out to the car. She was just past the door when she suddenly said, "Oh, I forgot your clothes inside! I'll be right back." Wait, she brought them inside? I didn't see her do that. Two minutes later, she came out with the bag, nearly tripping on the stairs. High heels are deadly!

She drove me to my Mom's house. For the next half hour I vented to Tory over chat. I would have kept going but Whitney made me get dressed. I found out why she 'forgot' the bag when I opened it to see it filled with makeup and a note. "These will come in handy." I put my keys, wallet, and cell phone in my pocket. I don't care what she says.

Mom and Whitney fussed over me for another twenty minutes. Then I left with a drive-by wave.

It turns out my timing is pretty accurate. I checked my phone as I turned on King Street. It was 7:57. A bunch of cars were parked along the sidewalk. I could hear the music from quite a ways away. I started to regret going. People obviously don't know what happens at these kind of things. I could have turned back. But it was too late.

"River! Why are you just standing there? Come on in!" It was Jason. Who else? I slowly walked to the door. There was a mob of people inside. And at least some were drinking. I could smell the alcohol. Not good.

"Hey, these are some of the guys from the lacrosse team. This is Stephen, Anthony, and Drew."

"Hi." I said.

"Hey." Collectively.

"Hey Jason. What are you up to?" An obnoxious voice said right behind me. I turned to see a bleach blonde girl standing there. Her outfit was ridiculous. Two girls stood next to her, another blonde, and one with black hair. They all matched in attitude. They seemed really stupid.

"Madison, this is River. River, this is Madison, Courtney, and Ashley."

"Hi." I said. They looked at me in disgust. What did _I _do?

"Uh, hi." Madison said. She still had that look. Only now it turned into a bit of a smile. An evil smile. The other girls started laughing.

"Where did you get that outfit, from the dump?" Courtney said to me.

"Where did you get yours, your attic?"

"Don't be stupid. Our clothes are handmade, a unique design. Something out of your price range, obviously." Ashley spoke up. This terrible trio was getting stupider by the minute. Time to do something.

"Oh, you have something on your shirt right there." I pointed. Madison looked down. I popped her on the nose.

"What's your problem?" She snapped.

"What's _my_ problem? Me? What's _yours_? You've been insulting me since you walked over here. If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all." I knew my words went in one ear and out the other. I didn't care. In fact, I continued. "You keep going on about how awesome you are and how inferior everyone else is. It's absurd." They stared at me blankly. "Oh, I'm sorry, were some of those words too big for you to understand?" They laughed and left.

"Ay-yiy-yiy." I said as they walked away. The guys snickered.

"I'm impressed. Nobody says stuff like that to the trio." Anthony said.

"Thanks. But I know all about them. They especially like to tease my best friend. Consider that the start to payback." I said.

"There's stuff in the kitchen if you want any." Jason informed me. I assumed he said that to change subject from Tory.

"Thanks." I said, shouldering my way through people in that direction. There was a wide selection of refreshments lining the countertops. I grabbed a can of ginger ale and marked my name on it with a sharpie.

"Care to dance?" Stephen said, offering a hand.

"Um…" I said. I was tongue tied. I really didn't know. I'd never danced before And I'd much rather dance with someone I knew better. Someone like…

"Oh come on." He said, grabbing my hand. I placed my soda on a table. Stephen brought me into the middle of the room and started dancing. I tried to fall in step but I had never danced before. It wasn't as hard as it looked though. I did okay I suppose. He just kept looking at me and smiling. He was cute I guess, but I found it a bit creepy that he smiled so much.

A few songs later, he said, "I'll be right back." He left. I went back to the table where my soda was and took a few swallows.

Drew came over next. "May I have the next dance?"

"No, I don't really feel like any more." I _.

"Okay, well can we at least talk a bit then?"

"Alright." He led me over to a couch. I sat down.

"So where are you from?"

"Morris Island. I live with my Dad and my brother."

"Cool. That explains why you're a tough girl. You live with a couple of guys. Myself, I have three sisters."

I had a look of shock. "Three? Wow."

He laughed. "Yeah. Yeeert meeeep bleeee…." _What? What was that?_ The room started spinning. Things went out of focus. Drew looked at me. "Arrrreeee yoooouuuuu okkkaaaaayyyyy?" I could barely make out.


	11. Chapter 11

I woke up. "Oww…" What a headache.

"You're up." Mom said. Mom? Why is Mom here? I'm in a hospital room. Wait, how did I end up in the hospital?

"What happened?" I asked. I could barely talk.

"You tell me. You floated a message. No words, just a blurry picture and strange sounds. I looked at your memory and you were at the party. I rushed over and found you passed out in the middle of the street." Ben told me. "I have no idea what happened. I rushed to Mom's and she called an ambulance. They found GHB in your system."

GHB? That's a drug. It's a date-rape drug. I tried to remember what it is exactly. It starts affecting the victim within fifteen minutes, the effects last for about four hours. It stays in the body for a day or two.

A policeman came in. "Hello, I'm Officer Carter with the Mount Pleasant Police Department. I need you to tell me everything you can remember about last night. What time did you arrive at the party?"

I tried to think. "Umm…" Was all I could say. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. "The party was at eight. I think I got there right around then. I'm pretty sure." I remembered looking at the time. "I remember. I looked at my phone right before I went in. It was eight, give or take about five minutes."

"Okay, can you tell me what happened after you got there?" Carter was writing what I said in his notebook.

"I… Jason met me at the door." That brought looks from Ben. I think he was about ready to seriously hurt him. "He introduced me to some of his friends, guys from the lacrosse team."

Carter looked up. "Do you remember their names?"

I thought for a sec. "Anthony… Stephen…. Drew. Those were the guys." I started off into space trying to remember. I couldn't remember anything after I danced with Stephen.

"What happened after he introduced you?"

"The Tripod came over to where we were…" I trailed off.

I got a confused glance from Carter. "The Tripod?"

Ben jumped in. "Three girls from our school. That would be Madison Dunkle, Courtney Hoke, and Ashley Bodford. They're as stupid as they are… well no, they're just stupid." Carter kept writing.

"What happened then?"

"They started throwing insults. I threw them back. I ended up doing the old 'something on your shirt' trick to Madison. She fell for it hook, line, and sinker. They left. Then I went into the kitchen for a drink."

Carter stopped writing abruptly and looked up at me. "What kind of drink?" He obviously assumed alcohol.

"A can of ginger ale." He kept writing, all assumptions forgotten. The blood test would have shown alcohol in my blood probably anyway. Not that there was any to find.

"Stephen asked me to dance. I wasn't going to but he insisted." Everything was blank after that.

"Did he do anything to you at all? Did you see him near your drink, or anything like that?"

"I don't think so. I held onto the can up until then. I don't remember anything else." I thought harder. Just blurs. I remembered a voice. "I remember someone asking 'Are you okay' but I don't know who."

"Anything else you can tell me?"

"I'm sorry. I have nothing." I shook my head. I was determined to get to the bottom of this.

"If you remember anything else, call up the department. They'll put you through to me or another officer."

"I will." Carter left. I sank back into the bed. I was still so tired. What time was it? Was I still under the effect of the drugs?

_What time is it?_ I asked.

_About three in the morning. _Could be the drugs. Seemed like the most likely conclusion. I tried to remember more. Nothing. Hopefully in a few hours I would know more. Right now, sleep.

"I told you, there is nothing! Everything in the files we already know." Shelton snapped. Tory was drilling him. This had been going on for a good half hour. Every possible lead was a dead end.

"There has to be something." Hi pleaded.

"Hi, if there was anything, we would know about it. They've been searching through the files practically nonstop for the fast three days." Ben jumped in. I was getting a headache due to all the bickering, and from lack of sleep. I felt generally lousy. Banging my head against the bunker wall did nothing to help.

I stood up, and the bunker started spinning. Down, down, down. I heard voices talking to me.

Did someone drug me again? I've been right here for a good thirty minutes. Not drugs, unless one of the gang did it.

I felt light. Someone put me up against the wall.

An explosion of light. I shut my eyes tightly.

And then everything was normal. I looked at the four sets of concerned eyes glued to me.

"What happened?" I demanded, inching forward. No response.

"I- I think you've been infected somehow." Tory finally spoke. I stared at her. What the?

I got a mental image of myself, falling to the floor. My eyes glowed yellow. _That's what just happened._ Ben told me.

"Okay, how? The virus was destroyed!" I _. There was nothing I had been doing that I could have been infected, even if it wasn't destroyed. This was madness. I slumped back up against the wall.

_You don't think that you got it from me because we're so connected?_ Ben asked.

_Possibly. But why now? Why not when you first caught it?_

_I don't know, maybe… maybe because you didn't physically contact the virus? However ridiculous this theory is. _

_There's gotta be something we're missing. _

Shelton sat next to me and grabbed my wrist.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm taking your pulse. I've been trying to figure out more about how the virus works. This is a golden opportunity." He said, never looking up from his watch.

"So, that's it? I'm just an opportunity?" I said, looking him in the eye. Well, I would be looking him in the eye if he wasn't looking at the time.

"Yes. No! Well… AHH!" He left after writing the time down in his iPhone.

I started cracking up. It was contagious. Ben, Tory, and Hi all got up from the floor. I started to do the same.

SNAP_

I went down again. The world was spinning. I closed my eyes and huddled into a lump on the floor. I bit my tongue to keep from screaming in pain.

Someone touched my shoulder. The spinning stopped, although my head still felt like popcorn was going off. I opened my eyes.

The world was in extreme detail. I could see dirt particles in the cracks of the floor. The salt of the ocean burned my eyes and nose. The buzzing of insects was deafening.

"River?" Tory asked. I turned. She stood at a distance of about three feet. It sounded more like she was shouting next to my ear.

SNUP_

The senses vanished. The world regained its normality. I stood up, slowly.

"I'm going home." I said, walking out. Now if I could just get back before getting slammed again.

The rest of the day was a fog. I drifted in and out of sleep. During my conscious moments, I tried to think of a rational explanation. Nothing.

**I'll put more in soon! I promise! I'm just getting caught up in another story, and i need a break for a week or so from this one. As soon as I get my new computer I'll start in again.** _**~Lynn~**_


	12. Chapter 12

**Okay, this is all I've had a chance to write! I've been so busy and to be honest, I just plain forgot :S I'm gonna try to write more now, but school has started and its going to be slow. **

I ran out the door. I couldn't see straight. I fell down…

And sat up straight on my bed. Just a dream. I relaxed a bit, closing my eyes. Why couldn't I remember? Focus, focus… Drew's face popped into my mind. I snapped my eyes open. Did that mean it was _him?_

I looked at the clock. Nearly eight in the morning. I might as well get up. There's no use laying around all day when there are things to figure out.

The phone rang. I answered it.

"River! I'm so sorry! If I hadn't made you go to that party you wouldn't have ended up in the hospital! I'm so so so sorry!" Whitney _.

"It's okay there's no way that you could have known beforehand." I tried to sound genuine, but inside I agreed with her.

"I know but still, I just wanted to say sorry."

"Oh okay well thanks but I have to go somewhere so I'll talk to you later is that okay?" As much as she annoys people, I try to be patient.

"Alright. Bye." I hung up the phone. She was right, if she hadn't made me go I wouldn't have been drugged. Not that I was blaming her, but still. Then I thought of something else. If I hadn't gone, there's a chance I might not have been infected either. Other than at the party, there was nowhere I had been recently.

There's something else that was bugging me too. I couldn't place what it was, but I thought it had something to do with the hard drive. To be sure, I scanned through the list again. Accounting, human resources, ongoing projects, computer maintenance. Nothing rang any bells.

I buried my face in my hands and sighed. Maybe a shower would make me feel better. And then maybe some leftover pizza, depending on whether there was any ranch dressing in the fridge. It's actually really good together! Same with hot dogs.

I sat on the roof deck with my pizza. A nice ocean breeze blew through the complex. The waves made a relaxing sound crashing against the shore. Birds called overhead. I'm ranting again.

I saw someone walking towards the door below me. It was Shelton. I got up and headed inside to see what was up.

I had an image flash in my head, from the party. It was like piecing together a puzzle, but you are given one piece at a time with no idea where it goes. I started getting a headache. That usually happened before I flared. I sat on the couch just in case. Shelton came in and sat on the other side of the couch. "Hi." He said.

"Hey." I responded. "What's up?"

"Nothing really." Shelton answered. "Remember anything yet?"

"Not really. Just bits and pieces." I answered. "I should remember by now, I looked it up and the amnesia is only supposed to last from a few hours to a day or two."

"Well you never know, the virus could be messing with the effects."

"I'm never going to remember, am I?"

"I don't know."

"I give up trying."

"It will come to you."

"You don't know that."

"No, I don't."

"Then why'd you say it?"

"Just trying to help."

"Thanks."

"No problem." There was an awkward silence after that.

"What you wanna do?" I asked.

"I dunno."

"Me either."

"We could rake the files one more time."

"Sure, there might just be something we don't see. Yet."

"Yep." I got up from the couch and headed up to my room, Shelton on my heels. Once I got up there and threw all the laundry into the basket I started my laptop. "You know, I keep feeling like I missed something in the files." I admitted.

"Really? Well maybe you'll find it now."


	13. Chapter 13

**I'm sorry everybody for not updating this for so long! I haven't written a sentence on this since the last time I updated, I think. But don't lose hope! I am determined to revive this, if I can remember what my plot was XD. **

Sneak peek:

"You know, I keep feeling like I missed something in the files." I admitted.

"Really? Well maybe you'll find it now."

"I hope." And so I started going through the files AGAIN. Like I usually did, I focused on the obvious files at first. Current projects. Lab six. I burned the letters into my brain, willing it to find something useful. Nada. Next file up. Computer maintenance.

"WOAH."

"What?" I asked Shelton.

"Look at this maintenance log."

I did. "What about it?"

"It says that there were faulty computer logs in some of the labs."

"And?"

"There were faulty computer logs on the same day that the same day the virus was supposedly destroyed. I have a feeling Lab Six was experiencing technical difficulties."

"Shelton, you're _brilliant_." I grabbed my phone and texted Tory. Soon enough she was running in the house.

"You figured it out!" She beamed.

"What is WITH all the-" Ben started, stopping when he saw the three of us. "Noise." I almost laughed at the way Tory's eyes widened when she saw Ben with his shirt off.

"River figured it out!"

"I did not. Shelton did."

"Your idea to go through it." He defended.

"Yeah, but you noticed it."

"It's not even proven. It's a theory!"

"It's the only lead we've come across so far!"

"SHUT. UP! Both of you!" Ben walked off.

Triple grins.


	14. Update

I am so sorry its been so long since I've updated! I've gone through a lot in the past few years. First, my best friend and I split and so I lost interest in writing for a while. We always wrote together, but this one was my own story. Then my grandmother, who I lived with, got cancer and died last August. I'm going to try to get back into this story. RIGHT NOW. As of RIGHT NOW I'm gonna go update it. :D Thanks everyone! I'll try to answer questions while I'm at it.

**Peanut Butter Wolf**- OKAY. Wow. Lots of questions. Ben never told them, I guess just cause he didn't feel like sharing. Their parents split is still fresh in mind perhaps. I don't know. I'll update it when I remember. Actually, hold on. I have no idea how these questions relate so I'm going to reread my own story. She's a viral later on. Not in the beginning. I can't tell you why, that's part of the story. SHH

AHA! Better than bunker. Yep. I thought so too.

The trick isn't so much to make him calm, just to make him sit. Basically, you put all your fingers together pointing up, then rotate your wrist closer to you. Hard to explain. The position itself is like "lizard" from "Rock paper scissors lizard spock" but flipped over so the back of the hand is facing down. Make sure they see your hand, can even have a treat in your fingers, then move your hand back so your fingers go from facing upwards to pointing towards your face or so. 90% of the time the dog will see this and sit.

HECK YES I LOVE DESTROYING THINGS! The standing deal right now is once I finish my Algebra book for school e can blow it up. As an incentive for me to finish it.

**LadyAnnabethHermioneToriRide **- First of all, cool name. Complicated, but cool. I called it a sneak peek cause I didn't want to admit I had writer's block and hadn't done anything. That's basically the chapter.  
>As far as RiverSheldon, that's kind of my plan ;)  
>And Sheldon did NOT know about River knowing about them being able to flare. That was a RiverBen secret.

**UnofficiallyAllison**- Aw, thanks! I try my best :D Means a lot. Thank you.

**ChagraceDaya-** HI! HAVEN'T TALKED TO YOU IN AGES! And aw :( I hope you find Spirit. I really really really liked that one.

Phew, I think that's all the comments.

Oh yes, I built a 3D interactive interior/exterior plan of the Morris Island Townhomes. Its amazing. I have to find a way to show you guys.

Oh yeah, and would anyone be opposed if I went through and changed/updated some of the chapters? I've changed a lot in my writing style and I see room for improvement. But if you think it would ruin the story I'll just post another version instead.


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